Chapter 15 Childhood Enemies
"Ambition? What ambition?" Lea asked. Although she knew that Sydney and Ethan had known each other for a long time, she couldn't believe Sydney would still defend Ethan like that.
"I can't tell you, but I know Ethan very well, so I beg you to understand his character!"
"Rob and I have no problems with Ethan, so you don't need to worry, right Rob?"
"Yes, we're fine with him!"
"Thank goodness, then. I was worried about Ethan being hated." Sydney looked very worried about him, as if the two of them had a special relationship.
"I'm getting suspicious of you, Syd! You haven't seen each other for three years, and you already have a boyfriend, huh?" Lea said. She smelled a big secret.
"No, Lea, you're wrong! We're not dating!" Sydney panicked and tried to deny it.
"So what? Are you keeping something from me?
"It's not like that, I just can't tell you. I have to protect Ethan's privacy and feelings."
"Well, if you don't want to tell me, I won't force you. If I have a secret, I don't think I can tell you either!" Lea said irritably as she got up from her seat and started to leave.
"L-Lea, wait...!" Sydney immediately followed Lea. Meanwhile, Nami chose to stay where she was, unsure of what to do. Besides having just met Lea and Sydney today, she wasn't the type of person who was good at dealing with other people.
"What should I do?" she thought.
After dinner, she decided to return to her room and rest. However, as she walked down the corridor to her room alone, she ran into George, standing with his back against the wall as if waiting for someone. He was alone there without his five friends.
Seeing him standing there as if about to block her made her confused, she hesitated whether to continue or decide to wait until George left.
"This guy? What is he doing here? Who is he waiting for?" she thought. He felt anxious and doubtful, but he had to pass through this corridor to get to his room.
With calm steps, she decided to move forward and accept the risks. But just as she had anticipated, George reacted immediately as she passed right in front of her.
"Wait!" George said, making her stop in her tracks.
"W-What's wrong? What do you want?" she asked in a panic.
"You don't have to be so scared! There's something I want to confirm with you?"
"W-confirm what?"
George shifted and stood directly in front of Nami, who was clearly much shorter than him. He stared at her coldly, as if analyzing the girl before him.
"You're Aiden's friend, aren't you?" he asked, a surprising question.
"How do you know?"
"You don't remember me?" he asked again. This time his expression was even more frightening.
Nami tried to remember George. After thinking about it, she felt like she had met him somewhere. But she had difficulty remembering it because it seemed so long ago.
Suddenly, his memory returned to an incident 10 years earlier: Aiden, his childhood friend from the orphanage, had gotten into a fight with a boy named George, who had been placed there by his parents when he was nine.
He was an arrogant boy who always ordered others around arbitrarily, simply because his father was a prominent politician and the leader of a left-wing party who always strongly criticized government regulations.
"Is that George from back then?" she thought. That was all she could remember so far.
"Long time no see, Nami?" he said with a sardonic smile. Nami shuddered, as all her memories of the boy named George she had known as a child resurfaced in her mind.
"Y-you're the George who lived temporarily at the Everdeen Orphanage?"
"Yes, I lived at that old orphanage for two years. What a shame, isn't it, Nami? We have to part ways, even though we were already starting to get close!" He said with a different meaning. As far as she could remember, she had never been close to George. In fact, they were practically mortal enemies. Especially George and Aiden.
"We were never close, that's just your opinion!"
"Really? Hahaha... what a shame, isn't it? I thought we were really close back then!"
"That's just your opinion! Can I go now?"
"Why the rush? Can't we have a small reunion?"
"That's not necessary!" Nami immediately pushed away George's hand that was trying to grab hers.
"Tch, your powers are still so strong, huh? I've always been curious about you. Could you be an esper?" he said. Nami fell silent, not expecting a question like this. However, she herself didn't know if she was an esper or not. There had been no signs that ERI had been watching her so far.
"I don't think so. You're wrong! I don't have that kind of superpower!" Nami denied it.
"Really? Haha... if not an esper, then what ordinary human being could lift a fallen tree struck by lightning at the orphanage nine years ago? Even though it was a long time ago, I can't forget how you moved that huge tree with your bare hands."